Alvin Greene's talking points

South Carolina Senate candidate Alvin Greene’sfirst speechSunday lasted just longer than six minutes and, in a first for his so-called campaign,
he managed to not make a major gaffe.

The unemployed military
veteran, who won the Democratic primary June 8 despite not holding a single
campaign event, survived a challenge to his primary victory from state lawmaker
Vic Rawl. Greene faces Sen. Jim DeMint (R) in the fall.

Speaking before a local NAACP
chapter Sunday, Greene hit on the economy and education but made no mention of
his recent idea to create jobs by manufacturing dolls in his image.

More from the Associated
Press:

There were platitudes
familiar to anyone who has heard a stump speech.

“Let’s get South Carolina and
America back to work and let’s move South Carolina forward,” said Greene, one
of about a dozen lines that got applause from the several hundred folks crammed
into a sweltering junior high gymnasium.

While singing and speeches by
others slowly unfolded before Greene took the podium, the candidate
occasionally fidgeted, wiped his brow and intently studied a black spiral
notebook where he apparently wrote his remarks. The speech had very few of the
long pauses that have marked his unprepared conversations with reporters.

Greene rattled off national
job loss statistics, and he said the state needs to put more people to work
adding more lanes to hurricane evacuation routes.

On education, he mentioned
South Carolina’s dismal rankings in standardized tests.